News and issues about mental health,psychology,health and social care and other current affairs with personal reflections and observations from an educator in North East England

Thursday, 27 August 2015

Everything You Need to Know About Jeremy Corbyn in One Incident

Everything You Need to Know About Jeremy Corbyn in One Incident

Jeremy Corbyn had a falling out with his wife over the schooling of their son. There were not any good comprehensive schools locally. His wife wanted to send their son to a grammar school- the same sort of school Jeremy went to. This was because all of the local comprehensives were deemed to be failing. Jeremy refused to send their son to a grammar school.It was against his principles. The couple spilt and the son went to grammar school. Jeremy had a clear conscience because although his son had gone to grammar school it had not happened on his watch.

No doubt Corbyn thinks his actions were principled. In fact they were completely pointless and in many ways unethical because:

1. His son went to grammar school anyway. Presumably Mrs Corbyn was a strong character and Jeremy probably realised she would get her way in the end one way or another.

2. Ruining your marriage over political point scoring is a really stupid thing to do. Of course if you really disagree with your spouse over politics generally then it is bad for a partnership. However, the Corbyn dispute was about one issue only. Most. Pimples would have reached a compromise.

3. Even if Jeremy's son had gone to the comprehensive it would have made no difference to the success or failure of the school. Corbyn would have been better to volunteer at the school or raise funds for it if he was concerned about it.

4. It is not appropriate to use your children as a political tool. The overriding concerns hound be their wellbeing. They don't have to conform to your politics or be an instrument for them. They need to find their own way in life and the role of the parent is to provide them with the best start that they can.

What this incident shows is that being right (in his pedantic mind) and sticking to his principles is more important to Corbyn than actually achieving a positive outcome. He would rather be right and fail than be a a little bit wrong but succeed.

This is probably why Corbyn (though a very intelligent man) is still just a back bencher after 30 years in politics.

This same spirit of principled martyrdom is also present in his followers. Corbyn is pure in spirit and deeds because his politics are largely untried and uncontaminated by contact with the real world. Even the fact that journalists are against him is seen as a virtue when any true politician would have been cultivating friendly journalists of years.

Winning isn't important to Corbyn or his followers. In fact if Corbyn did start achieving his manifesto it would involve a great loss for his fans. They would have to abandon their beliefs about a secret controlling world order and the idea hat 'establishment' won't allow anyone to challenge the consensus. When Corbyn is brought down it will prove their view of the world. If on the other hand Corbyn does start to make compromises and gain allies it will be taken as evidence that he has sold out and abandoned his principles.

So really there are only two ways forward for Jeremy- noble failure or ignoble success. I think I know which one he will choose.